Peach: the Supreme Fruit
Written by Asinus Asinum Fricat on May 15, 2008 – 8:56 am -My very favorite dessert is poached white peach with fresh raspberries, a little vanilla ice-cream on the side and topped with raspberry coulis. As a kid I knew where all the white peach orchards stood by heart and quite often made myself sick with overeating them right off the trees. Same with cherries and apricots. And grapes (I could have fed myself just foraging in those days).
Any list of the classical fruits of China should begin with the peach. Native to China, particularly to northern and western areas, peaches, peach wood, and peach flowers have been venerated in China for thousands of years. They were mentioned in the Chinese literature of the sixth century B.C.E.. Pits and other archeological remains found and dated circa 5,000 B.C.E.., confirm origins in the north and western regions of China and Tibet.
Varieties newer than BC, such as the peaches of Samarkand, the size of large goose eggs, were successfully transplanted in Imperial orchards in the city of Xian in Tang Dynasty times (907 to 907 C.E.). During the Sung Dynasty (960 to 1279 C.E.), both white and yellow peaches were popular and they and all fruits were much more common elements of the diet than they are today, particularly among the wealthy. Its English name derives from the Latin plural of persicum malum, meaning Persian apple. In Middle English, it melded into peche, (from the French, which means, annoyingly, fishing!) much closer to what we call it today.
The Persians brought the peach from China and passed it on to the Romans. The peach was brought to America by Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century and eventually made it to England and France in the seventeenth century, where it was a popular albeit rare treat. The rest is history! I wouldn’t be surprised if the recipe today featured peaches….and raspberries!
Tags: China, Food, Peach, Stone Fruit
Posted in Food |
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You are a peach, AAF! I love white peaches, but not many are grown locally.
In Parker County, just two counties west of me, they have the Parker County Peach Festival, where you can peach out as much as your tummy can take - peach cobbler, peach preserves, peach jam, peach pie and ice cream. There is a Peach Queen and her Court, a Peach Fuzz contest, and you can buy as many bushels of delish peaches as your car trunk can hold.
One of my favorite ways to keep peaches is to preserve them as Spiced peaches. There is no set recipe for it, as I just preserve the peach halves as a traditional preserve, but with less sugar, and spice ‘em up with cinnamon, cloves, and even a little jalapeño if I have some handy. Next to jalapeño jelly, my spiced peaches are a great Christmas or Thanksgiving present.
With all the rain we’ve had this Spring, there should be a bumper crop. If I go to the Peach Festival this summer, I’ll try to remember to take pictures, especially of the Peach Fuzz contest.
Jalapeño jelly? she said, ears perking up. Do tell! Have you a recipe handy?
It’s a ridiculously easy recipe:
6 1/2 C. sugar
2 C white vinegar
4-6 jalapeno peppers, chopped fine, seeds and veins removed (leave more seeds/veins in if you like it hotter).
1 medium bell pepper chopped.
1 bottle Certo
Directions:
In a saucepan, combine vinegar and sugar, bringing it to a boil. Add peppers and cook, removing any froth/scum, until it reduces about 1/4. Add Certo and stir well, cooking for about 2-3 minutes more, and pour into sterile jelly jars. After filling and sealing, place jars in a boiling water bath for about 10 minutes. This will allow the jelly to “keep” until you eat it or give it away.
I like to serve jalapeno jelly over goat cheese, to spread on crackers.
Oooh, yum. I know what is going in that dozen jelly jars I got from the nice lady the other day! Thank you!
Send one through the tubes!
Whoa! I’ll try that one, love jalapeno in ANY form or shape!
My home state of Arkansas grows a lot of peaches, and I can think of no finer fruit to eat, dead ripe, warm in the summer air, just off of the tree.
A good peach is a messy thing to eat, what with the juice running down one’s chin and making one’s hands very, very sticky. But nothing tastes quite like a fresh, ripe peach, just off of the tree. Grocery store ones just do not make the grade, since peaches have to be picked quite green to ship. They never ripen up once off the tree. They still look pretty, but have hardly any flavor nor scent. Warmest regards, Doc.
Peaches are the best. Your spiced peaches sound great and I’ll have to try them this year. I still have some peach jam and frozen peaches for cobbler.
The peach fuzz sounds fun. I didn’t know peaches grew near Weatherford. Go down to Fredericksburg sometime during the peach season and see all the lovely peaches on the trees and the grapes on the vines at the wineries. Then spend some time on the Guadalupe or Frio just lazin’ the day away. Ah, summer in the Hill Country!
I never saw a white peach until about 8 or 9 years ago in Colorado. Around here it’s all yellow peaches, about evenly divided between the early cling and the later freestones. My mother always preferred clings, although I never saw much difference between the two. White ones, though… oh, dear!
Now I may have to go back to Colorado, just for peaches.